Constitution de l’univers discursif de la prostitution au Québec : enjeux autour de la sexualité dans les médias québécois à la lumière du projet de loi C-36

Ce mémoire vise à explorer les manières dont les discours autour de la sexualité furent créés et comment ils ont circulé dans les médias québécois suite à la décision de la Cour suprême du Canada en décembre 2013 de réviser les articles de loi en matière de prostitution (Canada (Procureur général) c. Bedford, 2013 CSC 72). En mobilisant une analyse de discours tout en puisant dans la théorie féministe afin de conceptualiser la sexualité en ce qui concerne les systèmes de classes sexuelles et de dynamiques sexuelles, l’analyse suivante aborde des discours rivaux dans un cadre temporel qui suit l'invalidation des lois jusqu'au dépôt du projet de loi C-36 présenté par le Parti conservateur. Les discours déployés dans les médias et les systèmes de régulation qu’ils entraînent (voix privilégiées, couverture orientée, débats encadrés etc.) aident à mettre de l’avant certaines idées autour de la sexualité tout en les normalisant. Par l’entremise de nombreux sujets sociaux (des politicien-nes, des groupes de femmes, des universitaires, des femmes prostituées et des avocat-es), les discours rivaux articulés autour de la morale et du choix en matière de sexualité ont nourri un débat public construit sur un antagonisme semblable à celui exprimé lors des sex wars féministes. Ce mémoire comprend ces discours encadrés au sein du débat sur la prostitution comme étant constitutifs dans la compréhension des systèmes actuels de sexualité et de classes sexuelles.This thesis aims to explore how discourses around sexuality were created and circulated in the Québec media following the Supreme Court of Canada’s decision to strike down the prostitution laws in December 2013 (Canada (Attorney General) v. Bedford, 2013 SCC 72). Using discourse analysis and drawing on feminist theory in order to conceptualize sexuality in regards to sex class systems and sexual dynamics, the thesis addresses rival discourses in a time frame that follows the striking down of the laws up until when Bill C-36 was introduced by the Conservative government. Media discourses and the regulating systems that they entail (privileged voices, oriented coverage, framed debates etc.) all help create certain ideas around sexuality whilst simultaneously normalizing them. With the input of numerous social agents (politicians, women’s groups, academics, prostituted women and lawyers), the rival discourses set around morality and choice in sexuality fed a public debate built on a similar antagonism to that of the feminist “sex wars”. This thesis understands these discourses framed within the debate of prostitution as constitutive of current understandings of sexuality and sex class systems

Hardware de arquitectura paramètrica en hormigón armado

En el marco de la realización de una investigación en la línea de construccióninnovación, se presenta la oportunidad de abordar un tema de constante actualidad, que se perfila en diversos asertos de teoría de la arquitectura contemporánea, como un nuevo paradigma. El asunto de la arquitectura paramétrica siempre se muestra como un tema y realidad un tanto sensacionalista, demarcadora de icono y enfocada en la forma. Pero la ejecución de estas formas y los procesos semánticos de esta, presentan importancia en el camino hacia la evolución y permanencia en nuestro sector. Es así como surge, la necesidad de explorar esta vertiente de la arquitectura, y hacerlo mediante la visualización de su estado del arte, el análisis de casos prácticos realizados y el detalle de las soluciones a problemas puntuales de esta práctica. La optimización y automatización, son dos de los objetivos más presentes cuando reseñamos los sistemas de proyectado digital en arquitectura. Es muy común que estos términos se adopten con respecto a la morfología, a las características dinámicas y a la modificación de los materiales. Sin embargo es identificable como muchos autores en sus publicaciones, así como en sus aseveraciones plantean, que existe una falta de sincronización de las soluciones constructivas con respecto al progreso de la proyección y diseño arquitectónico, de manera que diversos procesos se vuelven muy artesanales a la hora de materializar lo planteado. Abordar el tema de arquitectura paramétrica desde la perspectiva del hardware, representa una aproximación desde: la técnica, los procesos, soluciones constructivas, métodos de fabricación y puesta en obra, que materializan lo conceptualmente propuesto. Esto permite centrarse en la identificación de las soluciones técnicas más óptimas tanto de traducción del diseño, como de ejecución y montaje en obra, profundizando en los medios de trasformación de materiales (conformado, impresión 3d), utilización de maquinarias especiales (robótica), y nuevos procesos de montaje, todos estos haciendo énfasis en la fase de fabricación, pre construcción y puesta en obra. La arquitectura paramétrica y las técnicas de proyección generativas se muestran como el presente y futuro de la práctica. Por ende indagar sobre temas que buscan la optimización de sus ramificaciones, en este caso la puesta en obra, implica adentrarse en comprender el sistema y explorar soluciones en sus campos. Siendo propicio el analizar casos de estudio y mediante estos adentrarnos a las soluciones dadas, comprendiéndolas como líneas de seguimiento y posibles parámetros futuros en la práctica. Además de entender la lógica de proceso y el paso de lo digital a lo construido. La actual preocupación por una sinergia y retroalimentación de ambos campos: arquitectónico propositivo y el constructivo, requiere de esta tipología de análisis y búsqueda de soluciones a la construcción, puesta en obra y fabricación paramétrica

Simulating the Multi-Epoch Direct Detection Technique to Isolate the Thermal Emission of the Non-Transiting Hot Jupiter HD187123B

We report the 6.5$\sigma$ detection of water from the hot Jupiter HD187123b with a Keplerian orbital velocity $K_p$ of 53 $\pm$ 13 km/s. This high confidence detection is made using a multi-epoch, high resolution, cross correlation technique, and corresponds to a planetary mass of 1.4$^{+0.5}_{-0.3}$ $M_J$ and an orbital inclination of 21 $\pm$ 5$^{\circ}$. The technique works by treating the planet/star system as a spectroscopic binary and obtaining high signal-to-noise, high resolution observations at multiple points across the planet's orbit to constrain the system's binary dynamical motion. All together, seven epochs of Keck/NIRSPEC $L$-band observations were obtained, with five before the instrument upgrade and two after. Using high resolution SCARLET planetary and PHOENIX stellar spectral models, along with a line-by-line telluric absorption model, we were able to drastically increase the confidence of the detection by running simulations that could reproduce, and thus remove, the non-random structured noise in the final likelihood space well. The ability to predict multi-epoch results will be extremely useful for furthering the technique. Here, we use these simulations to compare three different approaches to combining the cross correlations of high resolution spectra and find that the Zucker 2003 log(L) approach is least affected by unwanted planet/star correlation for our HD187123 data set. Furthermore, we find that the same total S/N spread across an orbit in many, lower S/N epochs rather than fewer, higher S/N epochs could provide a more efficient detection. This work provides a necessary validation of multi-epoch simulations which can be used to guide future observations and will be key to studying the atmospheres of further separated, non-transiting exoplanets.Comment: Accepted to AJ, 14 pages, 10 figure

Endothelin-1 in osteoarthritic chondrocytes triggers nitric oxide production and upregulates collagenase production

The mechanism of endothelin-1 (ET-1)-induced nitric oxide (NO) production, MMP-1 production and MMP-13 production was investigated in human osteoarthritis chondrocytes. The cells were isolated from human articular cartilage obtained at surgery and were cultured in the absence or presence of ET-1 with or without inhibitors of protein kinase or LY83583 (an inhibitor of soluble guanylate cyclase and of cGMP). MMP-1, MMP-13 and NO levels were then measured by ELISA and Griess reaction, respectively. Additionally, inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and phosphorylated forms of p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase, p44/42, stress-activated protein kinase/Jun-N-terminal kinase and serine-threonine Akt kinase were determined by western blot. Results show that ET-1 greatly increased MMP-1 and MMP-13 production, iNOS expression and NO release. LY83583 decreased the production of both metalloproteases below basal levels, whereas the inhibitor of p38 kinase, SB202190, suppressed ET-1-stimulated production only. Similarly, the ET-1-induced NO production was partially suppressed by the p38 kinase inhibitor and was completely suppressed by the protein kinase A kinase inhibitor KT5720 and by LY83583, suggesting the involvement of these enzymes in relevant ET-1 signalling pathways. In human osteoarthritis chondrocytes, ET-1 controls the production of MMP-1 and MMP-13. ET-1 also induces NO release via iNOS induction. ET-1 and NO should thus become important target molecules for future therapies aimed at stopping cartilage destruction

Contrast and Temperature Dependence of Multi-Epoch High-Resolution Cross-Correlation Exoplanet Spectroscopy

While high-resolution cross-correlation spectroscopy (HRCCS) techniques have proven effective at characterizing the atmospheres of transiting and non-transiting hot Jupiters, the limitations of these techniques are not well understood. We present a series of simulations of one HRCCS technique, which combines the cross-correlation functions from multiple epochs, to place temperature and contrast limits on the accessible exoplanet population for the first time. We find that planets approximately Saturn-size and larger within ∼0.2 AU of a Sun-like star are likely to be detectable with current instrumentation in the L-band, a significant expansion compared with the previously-studied population. Cooler (T_(eq) ≤ 1000 K) exoplanets are more detectable than suggested by their photometric contrast alone as a result of chemical changes which increase spectroscopic contrast. The L-band CH₄ spectrum of cooler exoplanets enables robust constraints on the atmospheric C/O ratio at T_(eq)∼900K, which have proven difficult to obtain for hot Jupiters. These results suggest that the multi-epoch approach to HRCCS can detect and characterize exoplanet atmospheres throughout the inner regions of Sun-like systems with existing high-resolution spectrographs. We find that many epochs of modest signal-to-noise (S/N_(epoch)∼1500) yield the clearest detections and constraints on C/O, emphasizing the need for high-precision near-infrared telluric correction with short integration times

“Finally! My first shiny!”: Assessing Text Mining Tools and Methodologies for the Study of the Pokémon Sword and Shield Twitter Online Community

This paper proposes to examine these issues through the case study of publications associated with the hashtag #PokemonSwordShield, #PokémonÉpéeBouclier and #ポケモンソードシールド(#Pokemonswordshield) produced on Twitter between September 2019 and February 2020. Through mix analysis methods that bridge qualitative and quantitative approaches, we analyze and characterize the use of the hashtag by Twitter users through a period of five months equally split between posts produced before and after the release of the Nintendo Switch video game Pokémon Sword and Shield. Using the open-source text mining software KH Coder to track the evolution of themes in the corpus over time, we identify gameplay mechanics that emerge as dominant discussion topic and track the evolution of the language associated with them throughout the corpus using correspondence analysis methodology. Then, having segmented our corpus based on language, we compare the frequency distribution of specific concepts between the English, French and Japanese sub-corpora. Results are interpreted in relation to qualitative readings of major events that occurred surrounding the game’s release such as marketing strategies implemented by Nintendo, information leaks and unofficial hashtag campaigns

Simulating the Multi-epoch Direct Detection Technique to Isolate the Thermal Emission of the Non-transiting Hot Jupiter HD187123b

We report the 6.5σ detection of water from the hot Jupiter HD187123b with a Keplerian orbital velocity K_p of 53 ± 13 km s⁻¹. This high-confidence detection is made using a multi-epoch, high-resolution, cross-correlation technique, and corresponds to a planetary mass of 1.4^(+0.5)_(−0.3) M_J and an orbital inclination of 21° ± 5°. The technique works by treating the planet/star system as a spectroscopic binary and obtaining high signal-to-noise, high-resolution observations at multiple points across the planet's orbit to constrain the system's binary dynamical motion. All together, seven epochs of Keck/NIRSPEC L-band observations were obtained, with five before the instrument upgrade and two after. Using high-resolution SCARLET planetary and PHOENIX stellar spectral models, we were able to drastically increase the confidence of the detection by running simulations that could reproduce, and thus remove, the nonrandom structured noise in the final likelihood space well. The ability to predict multi-epoch results will be extremely useful for furthering the technique. Here, we use these simulations to compare three different approaches to combining the cross correlations of high-resolution spectra and find that the Zucker log(L) approach is least affected by unwanted planet/star correlation for our HD187123 data set. Furthermore, we find that the same total signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) spread across an orbit in many, lower S/N epochs rather than fewer, higher S/N epochs could provide a more efficient detection. This work provides a necessary validation of multi-epoch simulations, which can be used to guide future observations and will be key to studying the atmospheres of farther separated, non-transiting exoplanets